I am an author, technologist, educator, musician, and game designer.
A constant dabbler, I sometimes develop enough competency to make an impact in a strand of interest. It is difficult to avoid wearing these interests as identities and valuing oneself by proxy. At the core, for me, it is just making time to make art, to think and talk, and to dedicate some time to building things, even if only for a season.
I am based in Galway, Ireland where I grew up most of my life and settled here after some travels and education abroad. I am originally from Northern Ireland, with roots in Belfast and Fermanagh.
Programming
A practice of Information Technology.
My most invested in area of expertise is the craft of computer programming, which I have been working at more or less continuously since the age of 8 or 9, 30 years at this point. My LinkedIn profile is the best place to learn more about my professional career in technology, academic teaching and mentorship whereas my GitHub account is the home for the rougher and more exploratory work. Much the latter case has been lost or deleted over the years, there’s no point in holding on to everything. It’s okay to forget some things.
Education
In concordance with my Christian Evangelical upbringing, I attended somewhat fringe schools as a child. When my family relocated to the Republic of Ireland from the North, my primary (national) schooling was in a Church of Ireland school and my secondary (high) school was a Jesuit school. Membership in Church of Ireland in the vast minority of Christians in Ireland (roughly 3-4% as of 2022), though historically a powerful and British-aligned group. Its interests are still influential on the Irish ‘paper of record’, the Irish Times (at least according to muck-raking journalists at The Phoenix). ‘The Jes’, which I attended in my teens, was then well regarded as being one of the most tolerant and progressive schools, at least among the religious schools. I believe at that time there was no local secondary school that was not run by a Catholic religious organisation. The Educate Together schools and Steiner/Waldorf schools remain the only real alternative and even today make up only a tiny fraction of all schools in Ireland.
In third-level (higher) education, I attended the colleges of the Galway Institute of Technology (GIT) and then the London Centre of Contemporary Music (LCCM) where I was awarded an H. Dip in Music Performance through Drums. I then attended Maynooth University (MU, formerly National University of Ireland/NUIM) where I was awarded a Bachelor of Arts with Honours in Music Technology and Statistics. I was also awarded the Class Prize for outstanding results, coming top of my graduating class.
Although I considered attending a ‘Lean Management’ programme at Masters level, I haven’t taken up any formal education since my undergraduate degree. Instead, I somewhat self-consciously wear the badge of autodidact, teaching myself largely through reading and experimentation. My debut book A Critical Introduction to Tarot has been called a “Doctoral Thesis on Comparative Mystical Divination Techniques” by one reviewer and so, though unaccredited, I am quite satisfied with this methodology. I have also benefited from some tutorials on the Preply.com and can recommend it as a way to connect with serious yet approachable thinkers (I’ve maintained one relationship in correspondence for several years). I also attend conferences and engage with other technologists and writers when I can. For example, in November 2024 I attended the Dublin Beta Festival and spoke on behalf of a table at the AI Art Assembly.
Teaching
Since my time studying in Maynooth University, I’ve enjoyed teaching. While still an undergraduate, I was a teaching assistant in computer science labs for first year students. In my final year I also helped out at the CS department Coder Dojo for primary schoolchildren. Later, during my first ‘real’ job (after my failed startup) I taught a Mobile Application Design course for one semester at the University of Limerick (UL), rewriting the entire course from scratch as it was severely outdated.
I’ve taught more informally, as a mentor technologist and as a music teacher for local community groups. This teaching is really rewarding and is essentially just sharing what interests and motivates excellence in these twin pursuits: technology and art. This is how we all improve and for me it is a kind of ‘paying forward’ in respect for all the help and assistance I’ve received over the years myself from generous people I’ve had the pleasure to know.
Work
I currently work for the ADAPT Centre, based in Trinity College Dublin (Ireland) where I am the senior software architect for the Precision ALS project in partnership with TRICALS. We are developing a platform to make critical research available to better understand this terrible Motor Neuron Disease (MND).
I’ve been working in the software industry for over 10 years now, from my ill-fated and naively run startup spin out from Maynooth University in 2013. I have really enjoyed my career so far and have been fortunate enough to work for a variety of companies across many different domains. The last few have been in the medical informatics space which is very attractive to me in trying to make a positive social impact with my work.
Writing
Including Books, Articles, and Poems.
In late 2023, my debut book was published, a non-fiction work on the philosophy of religion and spirituality entitled A Critical Introduction to Tarot. This was published by Iff Books. I followed this with a pamphlet to expand into areas I didn’t have space for originally, especially how modern bespoke spiritualities interact with AI and games. This subsequent pamphlet I titled A Cultural Reader of the Tarot. You can discover more about these works, and download the pamphlet for free, in Books. I spoke about this journey in The Challenges of Independent Non-Fiction.
I’m working on other writing in this area, focusing on cultural criticism and the philosophy of religion and spirituality, as well as technology. Sometimes these happy overlap, such as the most popular article I’ve ever written: ChatGPT as Tarot Oracle. Sometimes the clicks are baited unintentionally. I’ve tied together the strands of my short-form publishing outside this website in the Articles section.
Another kind of writing I’ve picked up again this year (2024/25) is poetry. I speak in more detail about what Poems mean to me in that section of the site. For me, in the capacity I wish to write, they are homemade artworks that beautify the home and give voice to the personally lived.
I am a member of the International Playing-Card Society, The Irish Writers Centre, and Writing.ie.
Music
As a multi-instrumentalist musician and composer, I’ve been in several bands, worked in theatre and toured internationally. Most of this was in a DIY context, especially my punk, metal, and post-rock bands. I learned Indonesian Gamelan and played for many years with local groups. For about 9 years I produced electronic music under solo moniker Bitwise Operator. Almost all this music back catalogue is available free online to listen and, in many case, to download. See Music for these links and little more information. These days I am learning the Irish flute at a relaxed pace.
I come from a musical family. My father teaches violin and can play almost any instrument. All of my siblings have some musical ability and most have gone some way to develop it.
Game design
Game design has to be the least of my competencies and yet is one of my first loves. The reason I started coding as a child was the lure and promise of making my own games. From impossibly hard text adventures to RPGs and strategy games. To an adult observing me at this time it would have been obvious which way my career would go. I spent most of my time coming up with the systems of the games and utilities to support their creation rather than the games themselves. This is also the reason my writing has never really succeeded in fiction.